NEW YORK, May 23 (UPI) -- The Food and Agriculture Organization told a New York meeting Tuesday that reporting on world fish stocks must be improved.
FAO officials said their global data collection effort, known as the Fisheries Resources Monitoring System, or FRMS, only has 10 signatories. FRMS collects standardized data on catches and stock levels, fishing fleet activities, fishing mortality, biomass trends and management practices.
The information is fact-checked and then posted to the FRMS's Web site, where anyone can access it. Already some 500 major fishery resources from different world regions have been profiled.
However, only four of the world's top 10 fish producing nations are cooperating with FRMS. Also, some signatories are having financial difficulty meeting their obligations.
The FAO urged U.N. officials to boost aid to developing countries so that they can more fully meet their FRMS obligations. The FAO also said more should be done to make regional fisheries bodies -- intergovernmental organizations established by blocs of countries to jointly oversee shared fisheries -- more effective.
